Answer the Facebook riddle, or change your profile photo to a giraffe

If you get the Facebook giraffe riddle wrong and have to change your profile photo to a giraffe, why not make it a Chicago giraffe. These two giraffe images are sized and ready to be uploaded to Facebook. Please share these with your friends. (Chicago Tribune)

Scott KleinbergChicago Tribune

Why would all of your Facebook friends start changing their profile photos to a giraffe?

No, they weren't hacked. They failed to solve a riddle that's spreading like wildfire across Facebook. If you get the riddle wrong, you have to change your profile photo.

"It’s 3 a.m., the doorbell rings and you wake up. Unexpected visitors! It’s your parents and they are here for breakfast. You have strawberry jam, honey, wine, bread and cheese. What is the first thing you open?"

The rules state that you must message the response to the poster so as not to give the answer away in the comments. And if you get it wrong, you must repost the riddle with the same instructions after you change your profile photo.

Now here's the thing: It's really not that hard of a riddle. But people must be having a lot of trouble solving it because the giraffe population has grown considerably in the past week.

There's no apparent link to a cause associated with the challenge, just something fun and different. And unlike some other sharing techniques that are less than wholesome, there's nothing terrible about changing your profile photo to a giraffe, unless you count annoying your friends. Judging from the bit of research I did to write this, people are growing tired of the giraffe trend.

There's nothing in the rules that states how long you have to keep the profile photo as a giraffe, although some people who have morphed into giraffes are telling me three days.

So what do you open first if it's 3 a.m. and you have strawberry jam, honey, wine, bread and cheese?

You open the door first. The door.

Update: Also acceptable is "your eyes." Makes sense at 3 a.m. People are having this little mini fight on Facebook over the correct answer. Many are saying you have to open your eyes first before you try to answer the door. And while that makes perfect sense, the way the riddle is worded it seems to indicate that you are already awake so your eyes would already be open.

But perhaps there's a better answer?

The most popular comment on the Chicago Tribune Facebook page right now is this: "Truth be told though, if you were smart and looked to see who it was first, upon realizing it was your parents you'd probably open the wine first then then door."